Greetings Shoi12, can you introduce yourself briefly to the french community ?

I'm Shoi12, the Canadian MoFA and avid eRep player who goes on IRC a lot ^.^ If people recognise me, it's either because of IRC, me being MoFA sometimes, or because I write a lot of articles! I get really lazy sometimes but when I'm needed I always give 100%! And just call me shoi

Nowadays you have the canadian citizenship, has it always been the case ?

I don't live in Canada irl, but I've always been a proud eCanadian, and never thought of being anything else. Been in eCan since day 1

What were the biggest political responsibilities that you had on eRepublik ?

My first term as MoFA under Rylde was definitely the biggest responsibility I had to deal with. This was the term when the Can-Am War happened (or as I like to call it, the Bieber Fever War), so at one point Rylde had me checking in with all our allies making sure we could still extend our MPPs and working with our allies to get things straightened out. And even before that, we had been working on few grand schemes that could have panned out. So yeah, that was definitely the most responsibility I had to handle.

Tell us about the current situation in Canada and your opinion about it.

We've had a lot of internal fighting over the last few months, but I think it's getting better. We've always had a lot of arguing in eCan from different parties trying to make eCan better, but in different ways. In the end, though, eCan always stands together We were wiped for a bit, but as you can see, we're slowly getting our regions back, so it's all good

What do you think of the changes that are happening in the international alliances ?

If I wasn't part of the process, I'd think it was really entertaining. Unfortunately, it's really chaotic from an insider's point of view. It's fun though I think it's shaping up for a very dramatic conclusion to this era, with Poland alienating America and exerting its influence in Europe, not to mention other hotspots around the world. The fighting might escalate a bit in the very near future

Call you tell us about all the fuzz that happened in Canada about a possible entrance in the CoT alliance ? What's the latest update ?

There was some talk with joining CoT within some higher-ups in eCanada, and our current CP ElPatoDiablo was seriously considering the idea. In fact, we could have gotten trial membership if we had tried to, but we ended up going against the idea. Personally I'm glad

Also, can you elaborate on why the canadian gov studied the possibility of joining "the dark side" ?

Now, I'm not very keen on the exact reasoning behind joining CoT was (I was one of the major critics of the idea), but the main points were that in CoT, Poland might be hesitant to attack again, and that we might get better relations with nations like the UK while getting more possibilities with war. Attacking the Irish and Norwegians through Scotland was apparently a tempting offer, but I never saw much merit in the idea. That's why I helped shoot it down

What's up in the relationship between our two countries ?

As we all know, the bond between Canada and France has been very strong for quite a while now, not only due to the RL bonds but because of the dedicated teamwork and friendship we've had between our two nations, even after Terra disbanded. We remain very strong friends with you French

I don't know if you heard of it but in France there is a political party called Union FrancoCanadienne advocating for a fusion between our two countries, just like Germark. What's your opinion about it ?

I have heard of the party, and I think it's a very interesting idea. I'm a friend of the party's president, and if France and Canada were to form a union, we'd be a more formidable force to be reckoned with. Plus, as there's always been a group of French-speaking Canadians in our midst, it'd help promote a bilingual nation instead of just a mostly English speaking nation and give those players more say in a more comfortable environment. While it'd take a lot of effort to get this off the drawing board and applied in-game, it's definitely worth considering

Is the "Terra dream" dead or is there any possibility to see the old friends meet again under one alliance ?

I'm a strong believer in loyalty and friendships, and I think that if our nations remain as close as we are now, there's no doubt that we'll fight under the same common cause again someday. Whether it'll be under an existing alliance like EDEN or a new entity altogether, I don't know, but I'm sure we'll work together in the future again if our two peoples so wish.

Did you have any contact with the French administration ? What were your impressions if you did ?

Unfortunately, although I've served a few terms as MoFA, I haven't had the honour of speaking with the French government, as far as I recall. But I do look forward to more communication with the current government if we get a chance

Have you been following the situation of eFrance recently ? Give us your analysis.

Well I see two major things happening with France: the issues with Poland and FYROM. Of course there's reason for both sides to be hesitant to work with each other, but I find it admirable that France has refused to give in to their pressuring and has continued to support our common allies in any way they can. I think that France can look forward to better times in the future if they can remain strong for just a little while longer.

What is your analysis of the global situation in the eWorld nowadays ?

Can I just say that it's a complete mess and leave it at that?...No? Well I think that our group of allies should have the advantage and do more damage, but sometimes we let our personal goals for our individual nations get in the way of the greater good. I see lots of close battles lost even though we should have won. I think that the days of Balkan-centric gameplay are over, since Croatia has moved their base. I'm very curious as to what will happen with Poland and if it's reached the limit of its expansion. Sooner or later a group will challenge the Poles, and the winner of that battle could very well win this grand conflict.

When can we expect to see you run for office ? :p

I'm still building up experience and waiting for the right opportunities, but I think I'd seriously consider running during the summertime, 2013. So mark it on your calendars, boys and girls! That's when the Serbian spai charismatic Canadian boy takes over! That is, if 12/21 doesn't kill us all

A big thanks to Shoi for answering my questions. As for you readers, stay tuned for other interviews to come soon.

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